Bobby Ciaro

Robert "Bobby" Ciaro (died 30 July 1975) was a union organizer for the Teamsters. Ciaro was Jimmy Hoffa's right-hand man, and he was deeply involved with union corruption; Ciaro and Hoffa were both murdered at the roadside diner in Bloomfield Township, Michigan in July 1975.

Early life
Robert Ciaro was born in Detroit, Michigan to an Italian-American family, and he became a truck driver. Ciaro was poorly treated by the company, and he met Teamsters union organizer Jimmy Hoffa one night in 1935. Ciaro had been sleeping in his cab on a roadside when Hoffa approached him and declared that he was entering the cab; Ciaro was hostile, attempting to speed away, but Hoffa opened the door and rode shotgun with Ciaro. Hoffa convinced Ciaro to let him talk to him as he drove, and the two drove for 85 miles, with Hoffa pitching the benefits of joining the union to Ciaro; he told him that Ciaro was not paid for time that he was not driving (such as while he was sleeping), and he told him about how companies took advantage of workers. He exited the cab before Ciaro made his delivery to a gas station.

Ciaro again encountered Hoffa when Hoffa began speaking to workers at Ciaro's truck depot, and Hoffa demanded for the workers to put down their crates and unionize. Hoffa stopped Ciaro and told the workers that Ciaro had rode 85 miles with him, and Ciaro became furious, knowing that his employer fired workers for being union members. Ciaro attempted to attack Hoffa, and a brawl broke out between pro-union and anti-union workers. That night, Ciaro accosted Hoffa with a Bowie knife, and he pushed Hoffa into an alleyway. There, Hoffa's associate Billy Flynn drew a gun on Ciaro and took his knife, and Hoffa decided to recruit Ciaro. Ciaro accompanied the two men as they blew up the Idle Hour Laundry, during which Flynn suffered fatal burn wounds. Hoffa decided to make Ciaro his right-hand man after Flynn's death, taking Ciaro under his wing.

Union organizer
Bobby Ciaro served as Hoffa's right-hand man, and he worked as an organizer for the Teamsters union. Ciaro helped Hoffa with making a connection to the Detroit Partnership, translating the boss' Italian sentences into English and serving as an intermediary. In 1958, after Hoffa became the President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Ciaro effectively became his vice-president, and he enjoyed a life of luxury. Ciaro spent time with prostitutes, drove nice cars, and frequented clubs, and he was involved with Hoffa's plans for a Teamster retirement village and for a pension fund scheme involving mobster Carol D'Allesandro.

In 1967, Ciaro was sent to prison alongside Hoffa for bribery, extortion, and other crimes after Peter Connelly ratted them out, but Hoffa's friends in the justice system ensured that Ciaro was supplied with a winter blanket, a bookshelf, cigars, a Playboy magazine, several posters, and an increasingly large amount of gifts throughout his prison sentence. Ciaro was released before Hoffa, and he attempted to convince acting Teamster president Frank Fitzsimmons to secure Hoffa's release. Ciaro was told by D'Allesandro that endorsing 1968 Republican Party presidential candidate Richard Nixon would secure Hoffa's pardon, and Ciaro made the deal. However, Fitzsimmons banned Hoffa from rejoining the union for ten years, angering Hoffa. Hoffa attempted to have D'Allesandro kill Fitzsimmons upon his release from prison in 1970, but Fitzsimmons survived a car bomb, and Ciaro was sent to warn D'Allesandro that Hoffa would go to the press if the Mafia did not kill Fitzsimmons. Ciaro and D'Allesandro arranged for a meeting at the roadhouse diner in Bloomfield Township, Michigan on 30 July 1975, and D'Allesandro promised Ciaro that everything would be alright.

Murder
On 30 July 1975, Ciaro and Hoffa drove to the remote roadhouse diner in Bloomfield Township, and they waited for the mafiosi for four hours. Hoffa refused to leave, and Ciaro repeatedly brought him coffee and made phone calls to the mafiosi, failing to locate their messenger. Ciaro also had conversations with a young teamster named Paddy Dougal, and he later took a liking to him, inviting him to bring coffee to Hoffa and thank him for what he did for the Teamsters. Ciaro stood in the parking lot as Dougal walked to the car, and Dougal placed the coffee tray on the car roof before drawing a silenced pistol. Ciaro tried to run towards Dougal to stop him, but a rig drove past Ciaro, blocking him. Dougal shot Hoffa three times, killing him, and he proceeded to shoot Ciaro several times, leaving him dead on the gravel. Ciaro's body was thrown in the trunk of Hoffa's car, which was driven into the back of the rig and taken away.